


Change

by AGiantCookiee



Series: Change [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers - Freeform, Father-Daughter Relationship, Iron Man 1, Plans For The Future, Pre-Iron Man 1, dad tony
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2018-05-04
Packaged: 2019-02-10 16:10:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12915456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AGiantCookiee/pseuds/AGiantCookiee
Summary: Sometimes in life, something happens that you don't expect and the changes that follow are ones that you just have to take in stride. Change was something that tony was never very good at dealing with, unless of course, it was him doing the changing. That had to be adjusted slightly when Olivia Roth inadvertently made herself a huge part of his life.





	1. It's my birhtday!

**Author's Note:**

> So I had an idea for a Thor Ragnarok story, and as I was fleshing out the details the backstory just seemed too good to not write. So, in theory this is part one of a long story that will take us through (Infinity Wars?) depending on when I get bored.  
> Part one, (again in Theory) will be a few years prior to Iron Man 1 and through, possibly Iron Man 2.

               Tony was sitting in his lab, reworking the blueprints for the guns on one of Stark Industries fighter planes. He really didn’t have too, the guns were almost perfect, but he was bored and Pepper was gone, making the final preparations for his party tonight, so how else was he supposed to spend his Saturday morning? He had his favorite classic rock playlist on shuffle in the background and he sang along, albeit mostly off-key.

               A text from Pepper came through his phone and he glanced at it, she was checking to make sure he hadn’t changed his mind for the 20th time on anything regarding his 40th birthday party. A month ago he was all excited for the excuse to drink and hook up with some model that would be all over him and be gone in the morning. Now that it was the day of however, he had lost interest in the party, it seemed like more effort than he was in the mood to exude. He sent his reply that everything was fine the way it was before sitting up and stretching. He picked up his coffee, taking a sip, enjoying the warm bitter taste.

               “Sir, we may have a problem.” JARVIS’ disembodied voice rang out through the lab. Tony closed his eyes and sighed before responding.

               “What is it?”

               “It seems as if someone has breached our security systems and is currently in the code.” His eyes shot open and he rolled back to his desk pulling the glowing keyboard to him. “I have successfully managed to lock them out sir.” JARVIS said after a moment.

               “what did they do? Install a subroutine? Steal information?” Tony asked as JARVIS pulled up the code for him to scour.

               “No sir. It appears as if they left a link for you. I’m scanning it now.” Tony waded through the code of his company’s system before he found the link JARVIS had been talking about. The tail end of it read ‘dearmrstark’. “The link is harmless sir, but I suggest you take a look at it.” He grabbed the link exiting the code and pulled it up. There on his screen was a photo shopped gif of tony bursting out of a giant cake with a party hat and sunglasses the read ‘Happy Birthday’ is flashing letters at the bottom. Tony stared at the moving picture for a long moment.

               “Trace the hack, I want to know what smartass is talented enough to hack my companies’ network for a joke.”

               “Already done sir, I’m sending the coordinates to your phone now. It appears to be a small building in Lancaster.”

               “Damn, guess I shouldn’t take the Audi then.” Tony muttered standing from the desk, grabbing his leather jacket a sunglasses before walking over and climbing into a dark tinted, all black sporty looking sedan. It was his least flashy car and was probably the least likely to have some asshole try to steal it. Even if they wouldn’t get very far with JARVIS running things, Tony just didn’t want to go through the hassle. As it was, the nearly two hour drive, (according to gps, not his speedometer) was going to be annoying on a Saturday. He had to know who was hacking into his stuff, especially from a place like Lancaster.

               He spent the drive listening to music that was decidedly more metal than he usually listened to, but he wanted to stay annoyed at whomever he was about to confront. He pulled into a small parking lot, quickly throwing the car into park and shutting it off before he climbed out. His was easily the nicest car in the lot buy couple $20,000. Tony looked at the building before him in silence for a while. There was no way in Hell anyone could have to power to hack his network from here, It was a fairly rundown looking public library. Pulling his sunglasses off he watched as Happy pulled into the spot beside him in a large black SUV with just as dark tinted windows and climbed out, looking slightly vexed at Tony. Stark grinned at the other man.

               “Sir, may I ask what we are doing at the Library in Lancaster?” Happy asked walking up and standing beside him.

               “apparently someone in that building successfully hacked our network about an hour ago, I’m here to see who he thinks he is.”

               “What if they had the forethought to not stick around?” The shorter man asked.

               “JARVIS?” Tony asked.

               “While I cannot pinpoint the exact computer used I can see through their cameras. At the time of the attack there were 5 people on the computers, 3 Men and 2 women, since then none of them have left, however 3 other people have joined them.”

               “Thanks JARVIS.” He turned to look at Happy. “Good?”

               “Good sir.” Tony then strode across the parking lot to the old brick building, pausing only to let the slow automatic doors open. Once inside the large dimly lit room, He pulled off his sunglasses, tucking them into a pocket in his jacket. He scanned the room, gazing past the rows of books and the handful of people browsing the seemingly limited selection. Spotting the bank of computers he nodded at Happy to go around the other way as he headed for them.

               Glancing at the first screen he saw a man watching Britney Spears videos, and Tony had the misfortune of seeing the hard on the man had. He made a face of disgust before observing the rest of the people. One man had some sort of shooting game up on his screen, a woman to his right was looking up baking recipes while scribbling in a note book. Across from her was a young girl, dark hair pulled back into a ponytail, with headphones on who was typing quickly on her keyboard. She glanced up and saw tony and as their eyes locked hers went wide with shock.

               Looking away from the man quickly she bent over, unplugging something under the desk before grabbing her bag and standing up, not even bothering to take her headphones off yet. Tony nodded at her and when she turned away from him she was stopped short by Happy who was standing there looking menacing.

               “Excuse me ma'am but my boss would like to have word with you.” The girl looked scared as she glanced back at Tony. He gave her what he hoped was a comforting smirk before he motioned for her to lead the way. Both men followed the young lady out of the library receiving a few glares from the old be speckled librarian whose nose made her look sorta like a hawk.

               Once they stepped outside into the warm summer day the girl immediately turned around and started pleading.

               “Please Mr. Stark, I’m so sorry, I was just being stupid! I promise! I didn’t mean any harm by it. I just think you are awesome and I thought I would be kind of funny, but it wasn’t and I’m so so sorry! Please sir!” Tony held up a hand to silence her babbling and she did. He slid his sunglasses on looking out over the street and the myriad of duplexes and apartments that lined it.

               “You hungry?” He asked looking down at the girl. “I’m hungry, I’m thinking burgers. Happy?” he called over his shoulder. “Burgers?”

               “Sure Mr. Stark.” He looked down at the girl who looked very confused.

               “You want a Burger?” He asked her. “My treat.”

               “Um…sure?” She asked warily.

               “JARVIS, What's a good place to get burgers around here.” He called out.

               “There is a small diner around the corner that according to reviews serves the best burger in Lancaster. It is called Joe’s.” He glanced down at the girl again.

               “Joe’s?” he asked her, and she nodded tentatively. “Great lets go.” He walked off in the direction JARVIS instructed. The girl glanced up at Happy who just shrugged. Still confused by what was going on she turned and followed the man that she had called an Idol for years. Stunned, dazed by the fact that he was here, and instead of reprimanding her…he was buying her lunch?

               “I never asked what you name is?” Tony said as they walked the short distance down the street, he glanced back at her while they walked.

               “Olivia.” She said softly, shifting her bag over to her other shoulder.

               “Just Olivia or do you have a last name.” He felt a little more confident as he watched the corners of her mouth tick upwards into a sort of small smile.

               “Roth, Olivia Roth.”

               “Well Olivia Roth, we have a few things to do some things talk about, but I’m absolutely starving.” They rounded the corner and across the street was a small diner, with cracked and peeling paint that was at one point probably white. With tall windows and a faded sign advertising the name of the place, a person would assume it was no longer open if it weren’t for the handful of patrons and the small neon Open sign in the window by the front doors. “Its seems like you already know who I am.”

               “yes sir.”

               “God, please don’t call me Sir, and Definitely don’t call me Mr. Stark, I hate that.” He grimaced as the reached the glass door. He tugged on the handle, stepping back to allow Olivia to enter. A bell above the door jingled as it moved, alerting the waitress, with a messy bun of blonde hair and wrinkles to suggest to much time in the sun, to look up as the three new people entered.

               “Just have a seat where you want.” She called out distractedly as she took the order of the vastly rotund man in front of her.

               “come on.” Tony said and led the way to the large corner booth. Olivia sat down and scooted in, placing her bag on her lap to make room, but both Tony and Happy sat on the same side of the booth. “How old are you Olivia?” He asked acutely aware of the looks a few of the other customers were giving their small group.

               Olivia glanced at the waitress who was still busy with her table, a rock of guilt sitting in her stomach. “13,” she muttered. “i’ll be 14 at the end of next month.”

               “13, wow, where did—“

               “Hi,” The waitress said walking up to the table with a handful of menus, “Here are some menus,” she placed one in front of all three of them. “my name is Virginia, if you need anything just ask, and I’ll be back in a minute.” She said with a polite but fake smile before walking off back to the kitchen. No one at the table even looked down at the laminated sheet in front of them.

               “As I was saying, Where did you learn to code like that? It takes some pretty serious skill to get into our system and past JARVIS for as long as you did.” Olivia could feel her cheeks go slightly pink.

               “I don’t, books? The internet? I kinda just learned in my free time.” She said quietly.

               “That’s impossible, it would take adults years of studying and work to get as far as you did today.” She shrugged awkwardly, not knowing what to say.

               “I don’t know, I just really like working with computers and stuff. I always have.” Nervously she reached up and started playing with a loose strand of her dark hair. “I follow your work, I have ready every paper you have ever written. Even the one on biochemical weaponry and the use of thermonuclear technologies to harness power.” Tony looked at her in awe, with a disbelieving smile on his lips.

               “I had grad students in the field not understand that paper.” He said incredulously. “yet a 13 year old can grasp it.”

               “technically I was 11 when I read it.” Tony grinned.

               “you would need a lot more power to hack our system than what a public library holds. How did you manage that?” He asked truly curious how she had bypassed this issue. He saw that she was chewing on the inside of her lip nervously, like she was afraid that she would get in trouble. “i’m seriously not mad about what you did, I thinks its hilarious actually, I’m far more impressed with how you did it.” She paused for a moment, looking and feeling a little calmer about the situation. She moved her bag off her lap finally and opened it, sliding out a small metal looking box with cables attached to it.

               “I used this to solve the power issue.”

               “Is that?”

               “A giant hard drive from the 80s? yes, I gutted it, and it filled it with all the processing power I could manage to fit. It like its own tiny power plant.” Tony reached out.

               “do you mind?” he asked and she shook her head, handing it to him. “what did you make this with?”

               “Just stuff I found lying around, broke into a few junk yards to scavenge some parts.” He popped open the case and looked at all of the internal wiring.

               “This is super impressive! I’m surprised you pulled it off with spare parts.” She smiled at the compliment.

               “Well you have to work with what’s available when you can’t afford anything else.” Tony shook his head in disbelief that someone could create something with that much power with just stuff they found lying around. Arguably he had done much the same when he was her age but he had access to a fully equipped state of the art lab and all the parts he could dream up.

               “This is truly impressive. What school are you—“

               “hi again, do you guys know what you would like to order?” The waitress Virginia asked walking back up to the table. Tony gave her a look that clearly read that he was getting irritated by her cutting him.

               “Three double Cheeseburgers, three fries, and three large Chocolate shakes.” He said flatly, still staring at her, perturbed.

               “Uh, no onions on mine.” Happy said softly, collecting the menus. Tony looked at Olivia as if to ask if she was ok with her order. She looked up at the waitress and gave a small smile.

               “Extra Pickles?” Tony’s lips twitched as he hid his smile.

               “Of course,” Virginia said quietly, probably fearing that Tony’s irritation would affect her tip. She took the Menus out of Happy’s hand and shuffled away.

               “Seriously?” Tony asked looking at Happy who shrugged. “Are we not in the middle of talking?” Olivia chuckled at his annoyance. He glanced at her and smiled again. “oh right, I was asking what school you go to.” Olivia’s face fell and a blush rose on her cheeks.

               “I uh, I’m not actually enrolled at a school anymore.” The embarrassed whisper was barely audible but Tony heard it and frowned.

               “you don’t go to school? How is that possible? You parents don’t make you go to school?” she grimaced slightly, knowing the second she told him why he would feel guilty and pity her. Everyone always did.

               “um, well I’m a—a foster kid, and I kept transferring schools so often that learning myself just became easier. And you know, when you’re an only kid, with no family who like to read…you aren’t exactly the most popular kid in school.” She saw the look of pity that crossed his face and she shrugged. “The foster family I’m with now isn’t so bad, they don’t have a lot of money, and their son kinda hates me for being smarter than him but I’ve had much worse! I mostly just hang out at the library.” She realized she was babbling again and started to trail off.

               Tony shook his head. “you would do wonders at someplace like MIT.” She beamed.

               “god Id love to go there, I have seen pictures of their labs and stuff! Its amazing!”

               “So why not apply?” she looked at him like he was crazy.

               “I’m 13, I have no money, I don’t even go to school, so I wont have a diploma…How am I supposed to get into a place like MIT?” She asked, voice filled with the realism she always had taken on life.

               “Your work?”

               “What work?” she asked crossing her arms on the table. “I built a big battery and hacked into your network. In fact most of my work, isn’t exactly what most would call legal.”

               “The fun stuff rarely is.” He said with a grin. “but you seem to have a knowledge of advanced technology years past your age.”

               “yeah, the eidetic memory helps with that.” Tony looked blown away!

               “You’re eidetic too? God I want to see how your mind works!” he said far louder than he should have, garnering a few glances from curious patrons. “sorry.” He muttered to them, putting a hand up in apology. “ok, now you have to tell me how you hacked my system, in detail, both to bore the hell outta Happy here, and so that I know how to secure it from the next teenager wanting wish me happy birthday in the most obnoxious way.” Olivia chuckled and launched into tell Stark all about how she got it. He even provided her a PADD that kept on him so she could show him the tiny backdoor she had found into the programming.

At the end of their lunch, after he insisted that she eat a hot fudge Sundae, because who doesn’t like hot fudge Sundaes? Stark invited her to his birthday party that evening which she politely declined, explaining how being the only 13 year old at a party did not sound like her idea of good evening. He instead have her the number of his cell, making her promise not to sell it on the internet, and that if she ever needed him for anything not to hesitate to call. He then spent his drive home figuring out if it was legal to hire a 13 year old Intern.


	2. You don't have to go it alone.

     Tony Stark did not hear from Olivia Roth for nearly 2 weeks after their first meeting on his birthday. He honestly assumed he would never hear from her. She was to independent at this point in her life to want to accept help.

               Today was a rare dreary cold, rainy day in Malibu, Tony was sitting in the Media room, attempting to watch some new movie that had come out that Rohde had told him to watch but it wasn’t keeping his interest. Instead he was dicking around on a PADD he had brought with him.

     The doorbell went off but tony ignored as per usual. Jarvis or Pepper usually answered it for him. After third bell ring Jarvis spoke up. “sir i would suggest answering the door personally.” tony sighed climbing to his feet.

     “why is anyone at my door anyway, i thought we had a gate to keep people out.” he grumbled as he trudged towards his front door.

     “it appears they climbed over the gate sir, i would have alerted you but this seems like a situation best handled in person.” Tony rolled his eyes at his computer as he reached out to pull open his front door. If the person was a threat JARVIS would have told him so he didn’t even bother looking.

     Standing on his doorstep, the blustery drizzle having soaked her dark hair, sticking it to her pale skin was a shivering and miserable looking Olivia Roth. Her eyes were full of tears as she looked up at Tony with chattering teeth.

     “Jesus kid, get in here.” He said reaching out to guide her inside. Once he closed the door behind he noticed the cast on her arm. “What the Hell happened?” he asked, truly worried about the young girl in front of him who was starting to sob a little harder.

     “Sorry--” She said in a shaky voice. “Nathan--a Bat--my arms broken--the cab--the rain--” ever few words she got out was followed by a jagged breath as she sobbed and tried to calm down but couldn’t. Tony could see that she was starting to hyperventilate, and the sight of her so wracked with despair made his heart hurt, which admittedly he wasn’t exactly accustomed too. In the last moment after yet another broken sob he pulled her into a hug and just held her there for a long moment. The force of her cries quickly subsided and he could feel when she finally calmed down enough for her breathing to regulate.

    He pulled away and looked at her still sad eyes, glad to see the tears had stopped for the time being. “I’m sorry, i’m not so good with the affection and stuff. Comes from being raised by nannies, but it seemed like you could probably use a hug.” she nodded timidly and looked down at her hands, one going to the other to pick at the soggy cast on her arm. “Ok, now can you tell me what happened? I didn’t get much of that.”

     “I’m sorry, it’s just that, My foster brother broke my power cell, so i hacked his MySpace page, but then he hit me with a baseball bat, but his parents didn’t believe that he hit me and said that i was lying and because i was lying they weren’t gonna take me to the hospital, so i took myself, but they had to call them for insurance reasons, but they refused to come, so i took off and used the only money i had to get a cab here, but you have the longest driveway known to man, and it cold, and raining, and i’m all wet, and my cast is all ruined, and you said to contact you if i needed anything, and i’m really sorry, i know i’m bothering you and that i shouldn’t have co--” Tony reached out gently and put a hand over her mouth. She had been talking so quickly that he was worried she was going to hyperventilate again.

    “I told you to find me if you needed me and you did. You have no reason to be sorry, Got it?” She nodded her head again and he took his hand away from her mouth. “So where is your foster family now?” She shrugged.

    “Home probably.”

    “Ok, well first things first, we get you dry, and a new cast, you can stay here for now, or maybe with Pepper if you would feel more comfortable staying with another girl.” Tony was officially digging himself a hole, one that he had never been in before and he wasn’t sure how to get out of it. Looking at this brilliant girl so broken in front of him though was making him angry and bringing out a protective side of him he thought he didn’t have. “I’ll figure out what to do about your foster family in the meantime, ok?”

    “Ok.” she said in a soft voice.

    “Alright, come on, let's find you some dry clothes. I’m sure i have had someone leave something that will fit you.” He let the way up the grand staircase and Olivia stared in awe as she took in the large windows with the view of the ocean for the first time.

    Tony led the way into a spacious bedroom with white walls that matched the rest of the house and on wall completely made of floor to ceiling windows. A large plush looking bed with grey sheeting sat in the center of the room, two modern looking nightstands on either side. It was all sat upon on thick, soft light grey rug, nestled squarely on the dark wood floors. Tony ignored it all as Olivia took it all in, and headed towards one of the two doors on the far wall. She stared out at the dark turbulent waters that stretched far past the horizon.

    “Its pretty damn beautiful when its storming.” Tony said after a moment. She turned around to see him leaning against the doorframe, her cheeks flushing when she noticed the wet spots on his t shirt from where her clothes and hair had gotten him wet during their previous hug. He smiled at her carefully. “Here.” he said reaching behind him into the walk in closet. He pulled out a small stack of clothes and set them on the bed. “I don't exactly know what is in here, but i’m sure something will fit you,” he said walking back to the closet. “You like AC/DC?” he called over his shoulder.

    “Of course.” Olivia said as she lifted a pair of sweatpants that were about 4 sizes too big for her.

    “See i knew there was a reason i liked you.” his voice said from the other room and Olivia chuckled. She held up a pair of womens jeans with holes in the knees that was only a size larger than what she normally wore. She folded them over her arm just as Tony appeared back in the doorway. “Here, this will probably fit you.” He tossed a black shirt at her which she caught and held up. She smiled at the worn AC/DC logo.

    “Thanks.”

    “No problem, its stopped fitting me around a decade ago.” She let out a small giggle at his comment. “There's a shower in there.” he said pointing to the other door. “Towels are under the sink i think? I’m not really sure, this is my guest bedroom and Pepper kinda is in charge of things.” he ran a hand through his hair. “But feel free to use anything in there.” He headed towards the door, a little more awkward than he hoped for.

     “When you are done, just come downstairs, and we can go get your cast taken care of! Sounds good?” Olivia nodded with a small smile at him. “Alright, take your time and..yeah” He turned away from her.

     “Tony?” She called softly, he moved his head to look at her. “Thank you.”

     “It’s really no problem kid.” he said with his signature smirk before closing the door behind him.

     Olivia took a very long, very hot shower. Tony’s guest shower had one of those really epic rainfall shower heads and the warm water helped eliminate the chill her long walk in the rain had left her with. She really hated bothering Tony, she had debated coming here for a good hour before she had even left the hospital early that morning, and still debated it the entire ride in the cab. That cab driver had given her looks of suspicion the entire drive from Lancaster to Tony’s House in Malibu. And technically she had only had the money to make it nearly to Tony's house. The cab driver dropped her off on the side of the highway 4 miles from Starks stupidly nice house because cab drivers in LA are assholes.

     She still felt guilty about coming here though, she wasn’t his problem. Just because he bought her lunch and placated her for a few hours with science talk didn't mean that he wanted her to show up on his doorstep. He was a notorious ladies man and perpetual bachelor. Even if he was curious about her intelligence he wouldn’t want some 13 year hanging around and screwing up his life.

     Eventually she got tired of standing under the still hot fall of water and climbed out, not bothering to dry her hair she pulled a tie off her wrist and pulled it all back into a messy damp bun. The clothes Tony had given her fit well enough, both the shirt and Jeans were a little big but nothing she would ever complain about. The shoes on the one hand were and issue, her ratty old converse that were unfortunately still a little soaked. She dug through the closet and while she couldn’t find a pair of shoes that would fit her she did find a nice thick pair of socks. So she sucked it up and put her now damp shoes back on.

     “JARVIS?” The girl asked tentatively. Tony had told her all about the AI system that ran the house and basically everything Pepper and Happy couldn’t do.

     “Yes Ms. Roth?” the British voice asked.

     “Where should i put my wet clothes?” She asked shyly, slightly embarrassed to have to ask.

     “You may leave them where they are Ms. Roth, they will be dealt with.” She felt awkward about leaving her clothes strewn around the large bathroom so she started to fold them even though they were wet.

     “Ok, JARVIS, thank you.”

     “My pleasure Ma’am is there anything else i can assist you with?” The polite voice asked.

     “Um...where is Mr. Stark?”

     “He is currently in the sitting room, if you proceed down the main staircase he will be to the left.” She nervously tucked a stray hair behind her ear as she head out the door of the guest bedroom. Quietly padding down the stairs she saw Tony sitting on one of the expensive looking couches. He looked up from the PADD he was working on as she approached and smiled.

     “Looking better already. Feel better?” he asked standing up.

     “Very much so, thank you.”

     “Yeah, Alright kid, come on let's get that arm fixed up.” He walked past her towards another set of stairs but these led further down. “Now normally i would just have my Doc guy come to the house, but unfortunately he and his husband are currently in Barbados for their anniversary so we're gonna have to do this the old fashioned way and actually head to the ER.” While he was talking he had let them both into his lab/garage, heading over to the line of classic and new cars. He glanced over his shoulder once he was done talking and realized that he had Lost Olivia at the door. She stood, wide eyed, staring at all the tech in the room, which made Tony Laugh.

     “Oh My God!” she exclaimed as she looked around. “This is the coolest thing i have ever seen!” Unable to contain her excitement she walked over to one of the robotic arms and started to Inspect it.

     “Don't say that to loud, DUM-E might get a big head.” The robot's arm drooped a little bit and Olivia pouted a bit.

     “Awe, you made him feel bad Tony.” Tony rolled his eyes.

     “No i didn’t, he's a robot. Come on, let's fix your arm up and then i’ll give you the grand tour of the lab.

     “Fine!” she sighed but she was smiling. He shook his head and she followed him over to a fast looking sports car that was bright orange. She lifted an eyebrow at him and he smirked.

      “Don't worry, i’m trained.” with a little chuckle she climbed into the passenger side of the car.


	3. Slightly Dysfunctional Family

One of the perks of being Tony Stark is that even with an ER full of people they walked right in and were out in no time. While the doctor had been working on Olivia, Tony had called Pepper and asked her do him a few favors, as well as meet them at the house when they were done. So that meant that when the walked up the Lab stairs after a few hours they were greeted by a smiling Pepper, in a smart looking pencil skirt and blouse. Behind her sat two large pizza boxes and a two liter bottle of root beer. 

“You must be Ms. Roth.” The redhead said with a warm voice. “Tony has told me all about you!”

“Hi Ms. Potts.” Olivia said with a smile, although a little shy. 

“I see he has already told you of me...hopefully good things.” she said with a stern look towards Tony who just gave her a wide grin and a shrug of the shoulders. 

“You never know what comes out of my mouth.”

“I’m aware, that's why i asked.” Olivia chuckled at the pair of them bickering, Despite the fact that she worked for the man the two seemed close and comfortable with each other.

“If it helps its been very complimentary.” Tony looked offended. 

“You can’t just tell her that i sorta like her! Come on Kid!” She beamed up at Stark but didn’t say anything. 

“I however appreciate it.” Pepper said shaking her head at Tony but with a small smile to let them both know she wasn’t to irritated. 

“Yeah yeah!” He said with his classic smirk. “Anyway, kid there is Pizza, Soda, and if there is anything else you want feel free to dig through the fridge and what not. Or as JARVIS. Pepper and i have so work stuff to take of so were going to do that. Before we join you.” Pepper gave her a look before she pulled a remote off of the counter beside her and pointing to a large flat screen above the fireplace in the corner. As the TV Powered on she walked by and handed the remote to Olivia.

“Here you are Ms. Roth, we’ll only be a moment, please feel free to make yourself at home.”

“Thanks Ms. Potts.”

“Of course.” She turned to look at Tony. “Shall we?” Tony nodded and gestured for Pepper to lead the way back down to his lab as Olivia went and helped herself to some pizza. 

As they walked in, and the glass door shut behind them Tony spoke up. “JARVIS, if Olivia asks what we're talking about, don't tell her.” He said, his mood suddenly serious. 

“What in the world are you thinking Tony?” Pepper asked when he was done. “How in the world is it a good idea for you to take care of 13 year old girl? You don't know the first thing about raising a child, let alone teenage girl!” She spouted, her face flushing slight pink the more flustered she got. 

“Pepper, You didn’t see her when she showed up here. I have never seen someone look as dejected and miserable.” There was very little he got this passionate about, and honestly he didn’t know why he cared for this girl so much after such a short time of knowing her. It probably had something to do with how much she reminded him of himself at that age. Independent, smarter than anyone else in the room, lacking a substantial parental influence. Granted he was loaded as a kid and rebelled with spending his father's money, not that Howard Stark ever really noticed or cared.

“Her foster parents let her go to hospital alone and refused to pay for it, Their son hit her with a baseball bat? How could i not help her?” He asked exasperated.

“That doesn’t mean you should become her foster parent, Tony. Do you think you should be in charge of raising that girl up there?” Pepper asked earnestly. Tony looked at the door to his Lab, remembering how excited Olivia was when she walked through it and he sighed. 

“No, i wouldn’t give me a kid.” He was quiet a moment, Pepper said nothing, shocked that he had so freely admitted to a fault. “But i think she is they only kid in the world that could actually benefit from being around me.”  He pushed off the desk he had been leaning on. “That girl up there is special, shes brilliant, and polite, and deserves better than shitty people who are using her to get money from the system.”

“And she wouldn’t be left to just me, she would have JARVIS, and Rohde, and Obi, and most importantly she would have you looking after her. And if you aren’t the best role model for a young girl then i don't know who is.” He looked at Pepper who had her lips pursed and her arms crossed but her face had softened slightly. “She belongs at a place like MIT, with people who are going to force her to become the next Stephanie Kwolek.”

“It’s not your job to get her there though.” Pepper said softly and Tony rounded on her.

“I want it to be though, Pepper! I want to be there, to help her become the exceptional mind that i know she can become.” He all but yelled at her, not that he had to worry about being quiet, his Lab was completely soundproof. It would just be rude to yell at Pepper, even if he was trying to bring his point home.

“Look, i know that its stupid for me to want to take this on, and it seems like it's totally out of left field, but think of the life that i could provide that girl.” She didn’t say anything at first, watching Tony and mulling over what he had said. Pepper Potts was used too Tony making snap decisions, ones that were usually incredibly ill conceived and left her with a mess to clean up. She wasn’t even going to get into the Alpaca mishap of 2004. 

“How come this girl is so important to you?” She finally asked, her voice calm and even. She wasn't trying to get a negative reaction out of Tony. She just wanted his honest feelings about the situation, and to know his real motivation. Tony stared at her, knowing what she was after, but as close as they were even she didn’t know the extent of his poor relationship with his father. 

“Maybe,” he began slowly, saying each word carefully. “I can help push her in the right direction, give her the guidance i never got but so desperately needed at her age. Make her strive for more than what i did until it was too late to get it back.”

That shocked Pepper, Tony rarely opened up about his childhood, and she quickly learned not to ask. A good portion of their relationship was trivial things like parties, and him hiding from his one night stands. Maybe this young girl could help Tony in ways not even she could. She straightened and looked at him.

“This is a young girl that we are talking about Tony, not just some project you can pick up and discard when you get bored of her in a month.” Tony opened his mouth to protest but she held up her hand. “However, if you truly wish to help this girl, i will start on the paperwork immediately.” Tony beamed at her.

“Thank you Ms. Potts.”

“Of course Mr. Stark, is there anything else i could do for you.”

“That’ll be all.” She nodded and began to walk away, when she got to door she turned to look at him once more. 

“Id suggest talking to her, sir. Make sure she actually wants to stay.” She didn’t wait for his response before she left him to her thoughts. 

As Pepper ascended the stairs she watched as Olivia ate her pizza and watched some reality show. She was talking JARVIS about the show as she watched. The girl turned around as Pepper crested the last step and they smiled at each other. 

“Hello Ms. Roth, i apologize for only popping in but i have paperwork that has to be done. It was truly lovely meeting you. I do hope you enjoyed the pizza.” Olivia covered her mouth as she swallowed her last bite.

“Oh the pizza was wonderful Ms. Potts, thank you so much. And i’m really glad to have met you as well!” 

“Have a lovely rest of the day.” The girl smiled at Pepper and the redhead made her exit. 

Just about the time that she left the room Tony stalked back up the stairs. He walked over to Olivia, grabbing a slice of pizza from the box and sitting beside her. She gave him a big goofy smile around the bite of pizza she was enjoying and he rolled his eyes with smirk. 

“JARVIS and i have been discussing the absurdity of having models posing covered in honey and leaves.” She said, pointing to the TV that a rerun of America’s Next Top Model playing. 

“Hmm.” Tony said looking at the mostly nude model covered in goo. “I don't see a problem with it.” Olivia scrunched her nose up in disgust. 

“Eww.... gross.” She exclaimed making Tony laugh and nudge her with his elbow while he started in on his pizza. 


	4. Somewhere I Belong

    The two of them stayed like that for hours, gorging themselves on pizza till they could both barely walk. Watching whatever they could find on the TV and of course talking about science. She was endlessly fascinated by the Arc Reactor the company had powering their warehouse. When he told her that they could go see it the next day she was beyond excited. When he saw her try to hide a yawn he knew that she needed to get to bed, it had been a long and emotional day for her.  
    “Ok, kid, you need some sleep.” Tony said standing up, offering her a hand. She took it and he pulled her to her feet.   
    “While i’m inclined to argue,” she stifled another yawn. “I’m exhausted.” Tony chuckled and led the way through the house back to the guest bedroom they had been in early, which to Olivia seemed like a completely different lifetime.   
    “Hey listen,” tony said, his voice suddenly serious, and it made Olivia stiffen, sure he was going to ask her to leave in the morning or something. “I wanted to ask you something, and its a little different for me…” he muttered, running a hand through his hair, avoiding the question. She knew it was coming. “I’m having Pepper looking into it for me and all but i wanted to ask you first.” Olivia noticed she was holding her breath and she tried to release it but her brain wouldn’t cooperate. He looked at her, feeling like he did in his teens when he had to break up with a girl, but in reverse. He was uncharacteristically nervous, but how often does one ask another to be their kid. He let out a puff of air and just said it.  
    “Olivia, im looking into becoming a foster parent for you, it doesn’t have to be permanent, i mean, honestly i could turn out to be like, the world's worst parental figure. And maybe its just until you’re old enough to become an emancipated minor. But, you could stay here, and work in my lab if you wanted, and i could help teach you shit you didn’t know or whatever.” He kind of trailed off at the end of his word vomit there, and Olivia just stared at him, with wide blue eyes. That wasn’t what she had been expecting at all. “You don't have to, though either, and you don't have to answer now if you--” Tony was cut off by the young girl running forward and tackling him into a hug, nearly knocking him over.  
    “Yes, do it. Please!” she said into his shirt. Tony patted her on the head hugging her slightly.   
    “I will, kid.” When she pulled away there were tears streaming down her face. “Hey now, don't cry, i don't do so well with tears.” He said softly.  
    “Sorry.” she mumbled wiping them away. He lifted her chin to make her look at him.  
    “You don't have to apologize.” She smiled, her eyes still watery.  
    “Thank you.” she whispered.  
    “Of course kid. Now get some sleep, we can talk more about it in the morning.” She gave a shy smile before opening the door to the guest bedroom.  
    “Good night Tony.”  
    “Night kid.” Olivia headed into the room, shutting the door after herself before walking over towards the bed. She sat down on the edge of it, giving the incredibly soft and inviting bed a few bounces before staring out the window.  
The rain had not let up, and as the day progressed the storm had gotten worse. Water beat against the large windows, each drop racing the others they danced down the glass, merging with others as they went. The black of night behind them was an odd sight for someone who had spent their whole lives in the city. No cars, or lights, no sirens or people talking. She had always enjoyed the quiet, which is why she always hung out in the library. This was different though, she thought as a bolt of lightning threaded through the clouds, illuminating the dark turbulent waters below.   
    Tony Stark wanted to be her foster parent. She could hardly wrap her mind around that. She had spent much of her life reading about his work and his father's work. Everything from the weapons manufacturing, to Howard Stark’s work on Captain America way back when, and him building the Arc reactor. It was very surreal for her to be sitting here in Stark's Malibu mansion, with AI assistant at the ready and more technology than she thought she would ever see.   
    Olivia knew she was smarter than most people. She was teaching herself calculus in kindergarten because she was bored. Being tossed around between homes and families meant that her schooling always sucked, but she could always rely on books and the internet to feed her information public schools could not. So when the Martin’s told her they hadn’t enrolled her in the fall semester that would have been her first year of highschool she wasn’t overly upset. She already knew far more than she could learn at that school. She didn’t however know what to do with her intelligence.   
    She loved coding, and building things, but both were limited with what she had available. Her plan had been somewhere along the lines of find a job, get her GED and try for scholarships when she was old enough to pass for college. Then she got bored one day and decided to try and hack one of the strongest security systems, and did successfully for all of about 3 seconds before JARVIS shut her out. That one moment might have just sent her a very new path. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter, mostly because i’ll Be posting a few chapter today. At the moment this first part is sitting at 20,000 words, trying to figure out a transition between the next two segments.


	5. New Order

    Pepper and Olivia walked through the front door of the mansion both laden with several bags on each arm. They were both smiling and laughing at a story Pepper had been sharing about Tony. Stark looked up at them from the stack of paperwork he was doing at the kitchen island and grinned at the two ladies.   
    “Judging by the laughter, I’m guessing the Alpaca incident.” He asked and Olivia let out another laugh.   
    “Pepper has made it very clear that i am not to indulge you in any of your wild, outlandish plans that take weeks and an entire cleaning crew to clear up.”  
    “Aww, well that’s no fun!” he said tossing his glasses on the stack of papers. “How was i supposed to know the Alpacas and the Llamas wouldn’t get along?” The girl giggled while Pepper shook her head with an amused smile.   
    “It’s for your own good.” She said.  
    “Fine, fine. Did you ladies find anything good?” he asked nodding to the plethora of bags. Olivia set hers down on the floor by the stool she then climbed onto. Pepper let hers go on the Island.   
    When Olivia had woken up that morning and gone down stairs she had been greeted not by Tony but by Pepper, who had informed her that Tony had work to take care of but that the two of them were to go and get anything Olivia may want or need for staying at what was to be her new home.   
    Every time they were at a store and she would get uncomfortable with the amount of things she was getting Pepper would tell her a story about some ridiculous thing that he had bought that he didn’t need. So if was second guessing whether she really needed another pair of jeans, or the nice leather jacket Pepper had caught her staring at or, or bedding in a colour she liked; Pepper would tell her about the suit tony had made to match the paint job on one of his cars, or the 37 crappy walmart RC helicopters that he took apart to remake a life size RC copter, and at least this way his money was going to something more practical.  
    Shop they did, Olivia probably had more clothes in bags right now than she had her entire life previous to meeting Stark. She also had new decor, art, and posters to hang on her new bedroom walls. She had new furniture being delivered and installed later that she had gotten to pick out, as well a quite a large TV. There was a bag of makeup, not that she used it much, but she now had her own. They bought her lotions, and shampoos, and straighteners, and all the other bathroom essentials a nearly 14 year old girl would need.   
    When she had been younger some of her friends would discuss what they would buy if they won the lottery, and today for the first time in her life, she got to seemingly live out part of the dream.   
    “Yeah, a few things.” She said with a sly smile sitting a few seats away from him. His first instinct was to make a joke about her making him go broke but knew she would feel guilty about it so he went a different route.  
    “You have a nice taste in jackets.” he said, nodding toward the fine leather jacket Pepper had both, insisted she get, and wear home.  
    “Yeah, Pepper wouldn’t let me see how much it cost.” Tony let a laugh ring out.   
    “That’s because Pepper is a smart woman.”  
    “She looked to good in it, i could let her pass it up.” Pepper said as she busied herself with making a fresh pot of coffee.   
    “That she does.” Tony said before reaching out for the cardboard box that was sitting next him. “And before i forget,” he reached in and grabbed a few things. He slid a thin piece of glass with thin hard rubber edges that were similar to his PADD, and she recognized it as a phone like his, down the island towards her. “I got you a phone, and i’m not gonna slide this one.” He said reaching out and handing her a PADD. “but mine, Pepper’s, a few people you haven’t met yet, and the office’s numbers are in there but if you ever need it they are both hooked up to JARVIS and he can reach us.” She grinned.  
    “This is so awesome!” she said excitedly, touching the PADD awake and flipping through the screens, holding it up so she could see Tony’s face through it with a grin.   
    “You looked frustrated when we walked in Mr. Stark. Anything i can do to help?” Pepper asked pouring him a large mug of coffee and sliding it over to him.   
    “I’m just going over the requirements for becoming this ones” he nodded towards Olivia. “Foster parent, and for the most part i’m all good,” he lifted the paper with the list and began reading. “no criminal history, Check, steady source of income...you could say that. Be over 25, passed that mark a while ago. But then some of this stuff is ridiculous. Keep sharp objects locked away, keep all weapons locked away, keep all alcohol locked away! I develop weapons for a living and drink, like come on!” Olivia was chuckling as he ranted. “Any pool must have a 5 foot tall fence surrounding it...shes 14 if she wanted to get into the pool i’m sure she could find her way around a fence.” She nodded amused.   
    “Yeah, it turns out i do know how to operate most gate and gate like objects.” She grinned. “But honestly, most of those rules are because people usually foster younger kids, and they aren’t billionaires.” He looked at her through squinted eyes.   
    “Fair enough.”he said before turning back to his papers. “It's still annoying though.” he mumbled. Olivia set her PADD down and hopped up from the stool.  
    “I’m gonna run some of this stuff upstairs!” she said bending over to pick up her bags. Tony just hmmmed in agreement before he straightened.  
    “Oh i was gonna ask, would you want to take a few exam like things? You know see where you are at knowledge wise?”  
    “Sure!” she called as she headed up the stairs. “It's been awhile since anything like that has been challenging!”   
    “Just wait!” Tony yelled back. Pepper was looking at him when he turned back around, a small smile playing at her lips.”What?” He asked.  
    “Nothing sir.” she said before turning on her heel and grabbing the last of the bags, following Olivia up the stairs.

  
    Olivia had spent the entirety of the next morning taking every test that Stark could throw at her. She loved every bit of it. For the first time in her life stuff was challenging, she had to take her time and it was amazing. She even made a list of the things she didn’t know to learn later. She was excited to learn and Tony seem just as excited to teach her. To celebrate he was taking her to lunch at a very fancy cafe overlooking the ocean.   
    She was sitting there, staring out the window at the sparking water below. Tony had received a phone call and had stepped away to answer it. She looked down at her salad and took another bite, enjoying the tangy ginger vinaigrette that topped it. The menu here didn’t have the prices on it and Tony told her she wasn’t allowed to ask how much anything cost because it didn’t matter to him and he knew it would bother her. He wanted her to get what she wanted. The salad she was eating probably cost more than any meal she had before let alone the fancy sandwich she had also ordered.   
    “Sorry about that.” Tony said sliding back into chair and grabbing his fork. “That was your social worker, who by the way is a devil of a woman.” he said shaking his head. “I hope i never have to meet her in person.” Oliva chuckled.   
    “She's not the worst, but yeah, she not great.”  
    “But as it turns out she is willing to overlook a lot of the technicalities of this whole, me adopting you process. Sometimes having money is nice.” She rolled her eyes as he smirked.   
    “Great, i’m getting adopted via bribe money.”   
    “Well i offered her my recent paper on bullet aerodynamics but she didn’t want it for some reason.”  
    “Can’t imagine why?” she said with a devilish grin.   
    “Shut it and eat your salad girl!” laughing at the older man in front of he she obliged and took another bite. “The paperwork is underway though, shouldn’t take more than a month to complete.” She nodded at his words. “They are still going to send someone for a home visit, and they want you to talk to a therapist about the situation.”  
    “Fair enough. Most teenagess don't tend to get adopted so they tend to have adjusting when they do. They just want to make sure, i’ll be happy with you.”  
    “That's what the she beast said on the phone. Although she phrased more as ‘checking to make sure i don't corrupt you.” Olivia snorted.   
    “It's true, you are a terrible influence.”  
    “Yup, the worst!” He grinned at the girl before taking another bite of his own food.   
    They sat in comfortable silence for a while, the ambient chatter, and dinnerware clinking together filling their pause.  
    “I do want you to be happy Liv.” he said, keeping his eyes averted from hers. “So i need you to promise that if you ever aren’t happy, for any reason, you will tell me.” he glanced at her briefly before once again staring down the ocean. “I don't really no how to be a parent so this is gonna be pretty trial and error for me, so tell me if i’m fucking it all up ok?” Olivia smiled shyly down at her food.   
    “I promise i will Tony.” He moved his eyes towards her before smiling.  
    “Great well now that the uncomfortable feeling part of the day is over with, how about later i show you how i DUM-E works?” Her face lit up at that.  
    “Really!” She asked excitedly. “I’ve been dying to see how he works!” Tony chuckled as she went on to talk about making her own version

 

     Rhodey was over and was playing Halo on one of the screens in the lab with Olivia while Tony worked on a few things. It had been a little over a week since she had started to live with Tony, and Rhodey was the first person, outside of Pepper, and Happy that Tony let her meet. He was wanting to wait until the paperwork was finished on the adoption before he really let anyone know. Technically the paperwork had gone through, as it turns out having a lot of money and a really good lawyer got things done really quickly.   
     Rhodey had actually showed up the first time, two days after Olivia had sort of moved in, and the double take he had done when he saw the girl sitting at the island eating a bowl of Frosted Flakes was sitcom worthy. Tony was on the phone with someone at the time and wasn’t there to explain so she just gave him a cheesy grin and kept eating her cereal while looking at him.   
     “Um...who are you.”  
     “Olivia.” she said flatly, still smiling at the man.  
     “Ok, Olivia, what are you doing here?”  
     “Eating.” His face fell with annoyance.  
     “Why are you doing it in this house?” He asked.  
     “Oh i live here now.” she said with a grin. She hopped off the chair and headed for the lab. “Come on.” Very confused he followed her down the stairs. She punched her newly givin code into the wall and the glass door opened. She stepped through the doorway and nodded for Rhodey to follow. “Tony!” she called. “Rhodey is here,” she glanced back the pilot. “And i may have accidentally led him to believe you kidnapped me.” she said. Tony looked up from the blueprints he was working on.  
     “You know kidnapping doesn’t work if you just tell everyone who walks through the door that you were kidnapped.” he said pushing back from the table and standing.   
     “It also doesn’t work when you leave me alone in an unlocked house.” he pulled his hand up and a 3D blueprint of a gun came up on the table.   
     “Damn, you’re right, note to self, when keeping kidnapped teenagers make sure to lock the doors.” They both laughed at each other before She walked past him to play with the 3D Model and see how it worked. Tony however walked up to his best friend who looked both confused and a little scared.  
     “Do i want to know why there appears to be a smaller, girl version of you in your house?” Rhodey ask suspiciously as Tony walked up to him.   
     “Well you see when a girl and boy like each other.” he said quietly so that she wouldn’t hear. James smacked his shoulder.  
     “You have a kid?”  
     “Not biologically.” Tony said which just confused Rhodey even more and made Tony smile. “She’s a foster kid without a foster family, so i’m taking her in.” James opened his mouth but Tony continued. “Pepper knows, and so does the foster agency or whatever it is. They are coming this week to make sure it's a ‘suitable environment for a teenage girl’ so you know, there's that.” Rhodey looked at him with an accusatory stare.  
     “This isn’t just another Alpaca incident is it?” He whispered. Tony threw his hands up in the air and walked away.  
     “You make a mistake with Alpacas one time and they never leave you alone about it.” Olivia let out a giggle at his statement and looked at the two men as they walked over to the desk.  
     “Can you blame them Tony?” She looked up at Rhodey. “Pepper showed me the footage.”  
     “It was bad!” He agreed  
     “I’m sorry ok! I just like Alpacas and Llamas!” Tony defended and the made the others chuckle. Olivia ignored him however and stuck her non casted hand out.  
     “Hi Rhodey, i’m Olivia Roth, child genius and Tony’s new project slash kid.” Tony rolled his eyes and shook his head exasperated at the kid in front of him. Rhodey shook the girls hand.  
     “Hi Olivia, it’s nice to meet you. Hopefully you can keep Tony in line.” She grinned.  
     “I think that's an impossible job sir.” 

     The two of them actually had fun messing with tony together. He was going to be over seas again soon, and Tony was finishing up a proposed upgrade to their radar systems so Rhodey had been over more while Tony worked. He had also started calling her Liv, which she didn’t mind either.   
They were on their fifth game of Halo that morning when Tony walked over and slid a PADD in front of her. She glanced down at it before looking back up to her game, pouting a bit when the kill screen appeared.   
     “Gah! You’ve killed me Tony!” she looked at him hurt and he rolled his eyes.   
     “Would you look down!” he asked annoyed. Glaring at him in mock hatred she lifted the PADD and read what was on the screen. For as smart as she was, it took her a few pass throughs of it before she realized what this was. When she whipped her head up Tony was smiling at her. “So, ya know, Congrats and stuff.” he said with a shrug. Not even bothering to set the PADD down she launched herself out of her seat and threw her arms around Tony’s neck.   
      “What am i missing here!?” Rhodey asked as he attempted to shoot another player. Both Tony and Liv ignored him.   
      “How? I didn’t even apply?” she asked when she detached from him, reclaiming her seat.  
      “I pulled a few strings, showed them your test scores, donated another building.” he said casually as if all of that was just things one did on a regular basis, which for him it probably was.  
      “Holy shit!” she said, looking down at the PADD again. “Holy Shit!!” she said louder. Rhodey, finally annoyed put his controller down and looked over at the two of them.  
     “Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on?” Liv showed him the PADD and practically squealed her answered.  
     “Tony got me into MIT!!” She was bouncing in her chair in excitement. Rhodey’s eyes were wide at the answer as he glanced from Liv, to Tony.  
     “Holy Shit.” he said which make Olivia laugh.  
     “I know right!”   
     “Well technically you got you into MIT, i just passed the information along.”  
     “But still!!” Tony shook his head.   
     “Now, technically the semester starts in like a month, and i know you have barely gotten settled here, so if you want, you can defer till the spring.”  
     “Are you kidding me! I’m going to MIT i’d go now if i could!!” she all but yelled and Tony chuckled.   
     “Good, i’m glad your excited, Pepper warned me that i might be forcing you into to much to fast. I told her that you were like me, and that the more you can do the better you run.”  
     “Until we crash and sleep for a week.” she mentioned and he nodded in agreement.   
     “Yes, that i very true.” She looked over at Rhodey.   
     “I’m going to MIT!”  
     “Congratulations Liv!” 


End file.
